Are You a MotherEffer?
by dasengelhertzmitflugeln
Summary: Some jerk is into Chris and Wyatt gets all protective. Changed future, slashy
1. Last Night

A/N: I know I have other stories I was SUPPOSED to update, but I can't seem to get any chapters finished. Especially with anything Twilight related. Mostly, I'm assuming, because I'm not a Twilight fan (even though I do think the author has a great style) and after the immediate draw of the gazillions of fanfics it offered wore off, I kinda lost interest. Plus I moved states like nine months ago and that for some reason made me lose interest in writing all my stories.

I felt bad about posting any new stories without updating the older ones, but I've decided, screw it, I've lost tons of ideas because of my freaking empathy for shit that in truth has almost no valor… Wow, as if that made sense to any of you.

End point: I will finish or continue the other stories, but most probably super slowly or faster when I have the urge. My renewed interest in Charmed is taking precedent right now =). As for stuff on the story, it will be a lot more "Charmed-esque" in later chapters. This ch is like a random opening sequence. Yah, there ya go (bet you wish you skipped reading the author's note, huh. Yeah I'm starting to regret writing it, so I know how yah feel). Oh, and no promises on update dates.

Disclaimer: don't own charmed

Intro Chapter (1)

"Are you a mother-fucking idiot?" Bianca asked her mother-fucking idiot of a friend.

"What?" Her friend shrugged, holding off guilty laughter. He was a pretty big guy and his sequestered chuckling made him look like a dumb high school jock.

Rewinding the tape that was in the TV, Bianca gave him a "you-know-what-I'm-talking-about" glare before she replayed the security footage. On the screen, a young man, a kid really, was slowly pacing back and forth in an alley way. It was dark, obviously night time, and, after the kid checked his watch a few times, he looked to the right of the screen. A back door to a building opened and loud, thumping music could be heard coming from inside. For a second, it looked as though the kid might yell something to the people that walked out, but once he saw who they were, his demeanor changed.

"Shit." Chris muttered to himself at the sight of the predatory stares he was getting. He had been waiting outside the back of the club (not P3, definitely _not_ P3 =)) for his brother to get off work when those three creeps walked outside. "Damn it, Wy, where are you?" Chris muttered again, shifting nervously on his feet. Chris wasn't an idiot, he knew that waiting out front was way safer than waiting out back, but Wyatt's shift was already over and he had told him he'd only be a second when he'd pushed him out the door.

"Just wait there, I'll be right back." Wyatt had said before running back inside and shutting the door that was locked to people who were on the outside, namely Chris. There was no way he was getting back in the club from the back and there was no way the bouncer was going to let him in again without Wyatt. So he waited.

Only, it had been five minutes already and Wyatt hadn't come back, leaving Chris to worry about these jerks by himself. He turned his head to the side to try to pretend that he didn't notice them, hoping that they would just walk the other direction. _Please just go away and leave me alone._ No such luck, however.

Wyatt's baby brother cringed when he heard the impressed whistle coming from one of the men and three sets of feet walking toward him.

"You are one fine piece of ass, kid, you know that?" The voice was deep and creepy and belonged to Bianca's friend. "What's your name?" He said as he got closer.

Chris stood still as the guy approached him, terrified. His eyes were wide and full of fear as he stared at the man who stopped right in front of him. His heart was racing and his breathing was quick and shallow. He was scared shitless. Chris gulped before quietly speaking up, "Umm… I've gotta go." He turned around to leave when he noticed the other two men were standing behind him, blocking his way out.

"Don't worry, buddy," Bianca's friend spoke again, "all I meant was that you're a lot better looking than the guys in there." He motioned to the back door. "Now come on, kid, what's your name?"

Chris squeezed his eyes shut and opened them before turning back to Bianca's friend. It helped his fear a little bit, knowing that these guys were at least trying to make it _look_ like they weren't about to gang rape him or beat him up, but he still didn't want to tell them his name. In reality, it didn't matter whether he did or didn't. The guy was only asking him as a fear tactic and didn't bother asking again. "Umm… th-thanks, I guess," he said uncertainly. "But really, I… I have to go, so will you please just let me pass?" His voice was small and weak sounding and Chris knew that he would tear himself a new one for it later. He shouldn't have been so scared. He had powers that could destroy these guys and if shit got really bad, he could always orb out. He'd never expose magic unnecessarily, but he wasn't about to be taken advantage of.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Chris focused his attention back to the guy he assumed to be the head honcho of the group. The guy gave him a creepy smile and put a hand on his shoulder. The physical contact sent shocks through Chris' body that he couldn't explain and that brought back his terror, tenfold. "Of course, you can go, Buddy!" The guy said, waving his hand to his friends and telling them to make a hole. "We're not gonna kidnap you or any crazy shit like that!"

Chris tried to give the guy a smile, but only managed to nod slightly before he turned away and started to walk off. The other two were out of his way, but before he moved three steps, he felt strong arms grab him and spin him back around. It was Bianca's friend again.

"Sorry to stop you again," he said, "but I forgot that my whole reason for coming over to you was to borrow your phone!" He smiled dumbly like he was just recalling something totally obvious before nodding to one of his buddies who stood behind Chris and replaced his tight grip on Chris' upper arms. Chris wanted to protest, say he didn't have a phone, but Bianca's friend was already reaching into both the front and back pockets of his jeans. His emotions were running wild and the only thought he kept having was whether or not he should use magic to get the creep off of him. Even after Bianca's friend found the phone, his hand lingered in Chris' back pocket way too long and roughly squeezed his ass.

When he decided that it wasn't quite time to expose his family's secret, he found the courage to speak again, "Okay, can you please just make it fast, because I really need to leave."

In response and as he dialed the kid's phone, Bianca's friend ruffled his hair, "Relax, Buddy, I'm sure I'll get you back to your boyfriend or your mommy in no time."

For the first time that night, Chris was mad. Beyond the whole 'mommy' comment, he hated that this guy kept calling him "Buddy". That was his dad's name for him and he hated that he might now associate it with this encounter. Without thinking, he tried to lunge forward to either grab his phone or hit the guy, he didn't know which one. Either way, it didn't matter because the guy's friend was holding him back.

"Yo Jase," the guy holding him said, "look at this. Your little guy's kinda feisty."

Jase, as Chris now knew the guy in front of him, Bianca's friend, to be, looked up from the phone to smile at Chris' efforts. Just then, a cell phone in his pocket rang. "Whoops," he said, "I guess I had my phone after all." As he closed Chris' phone, the ringing in his pocket stopped. He shoved it back in Chris' pocket and grabbed his arms a bit lower than where the other guy was grabbing them. When Chris shivered, it didn't go past Jase.

"You know, you should really be wearing a jacket in this weather," he said, referring to the exposed flesh he had grabbed on Chris' arms and the fact that he was only wearing a t-shirt. Chris had a jacket in Wyatt's car and he wasn't expecting to be outside for this long. Plus, the main reason he shivered was because Jase's hands were freezing. He glared at Jase.

Suddenly, all hands were off of him and he felt a cool breeze run past his neck. "Alright, then," Jase said, "now you've got my number… and I've got yours." With one last touch, he started ruffling Chris' hair again, but Chris stumbled backwards. In all the excitement, he had forgotten how tipsy he was and later he'd use that as an excuse to explain why the situation wasn't that bad and that he was just overreacting because of the whiskey.

Before he knew it, Jase and his friends were walking out of the alley and down the intersecting street and Chris was alone on the screen again.

Bianca pressed pause and the picture of Chris was frozen. She looked over at Jase and said, "I ask again, 'are you a mother-fucking idiot'!"

This time, it was Jase's turn to glare, "Firstly," he said trying to justify himself, "since when are there video cameras in alleys? Secondly, since when does shitty security camera footage have audio!"

Bianca was angry and, with her hands on her hips, replied, "Firstly, of course we have cameras outside of the club! Secondly, it shouldn't matter whether or not there are cameras, you shouldn't be harassing people in general!"

"Calm down B, I wasn't harassing the kid. I was just fooling around and he's obviously fine."

"Obviously fine…" Bianca repeated under her breath. "He was scared to death! You terrorized him and you physically assaulted him!"

"What! I didn't beat the crap out of no one last night!" Jase was fuming.

"It doesn't matter, you nimrod! You grabbed him, that's physical assault, okay?" Bianca took a couple of deep breaths, successfully calming herself. "But, whatever, you just better hope the bartender doesn't watch this fucking tape, because I can't erase it."

Jase seemed to calm down as Bianca did, but was confused by the bartender comment. "Why the hell, would the bartender watch this? You're the manager of the club, can't you forbid people from watching it or, like, get rid of it?"

"No Jase, the owner has other staff confirm that all the shit's there and, if it's not, it's my ass on the line. Like I said, you better just hope Wyatt isn't the one on tape duty today."

"Bianca, what the hell are you talking about? Yeah, sure, I've had a few beers with Halliwell and he's an alright guy, I guess, but I don't give a fuck what he thinks about what I do in my spare time."

"You know what, BUDDY," Bianca mocked Jase's use of the name, "you really should have tried harder when you were asking the KID what his name was. Because it's Chris. Chris HALLIWELL. As in, Wyatt HALLIWELL's kid brother. And he'll kick your ass if he sees this."

Jase's mouth dropped open for a second. "Oh," he said.

Bianca turned the TV off and snorted. "Yeah, oh," she said as she started walking off.

With a last look at the idle television, Jase responded, "Fuck you, Bianca," and followed her out of the room.

THE NIGHT BEFORE

Chris was standing in the same spot he stumbled to when the creeps left. He was stiff and kept looking around, making sure nothing else was there.

"Fuck!" He ran his hands through his hair, frustrated. Why the hell was he so scared? Why? It was bad enough that he had an inferiority complex when it came to Wyatt and his powers, but to act like a scared little kid because some stupid _normal_ people were trying to get a rise out of him? It was fucking pathetic!

The club's back door opened and Chris saw his brother pulling the door shut.

"Where the hell were you?" He screamed.

Wyatt turned around and looked startled by Chris' outburst. "I'm sorry, I bumped into an old friend… Dude, what's the matter?" His brother was really upset and, even if his face and movements didn't totally give him away, Wyatt would have felt it. Chris groaned and stomped his foot on the ground before putting his hands behind his head to try to calm himself down. He didn't answer his brother. Wyatt tried again. "Chris. What's wrong?"

Chris paused his movement and looked at Wyatt, stating simply, "You bumped into an old friend… You locked me out here in this creepy alley all alone at fucking two o'clock in the morning and you caught up with an old friend! That's just great Wyatt. Can we please just get to the car and get the fuck out of here?"

Wyatt wanted to say something else but decided against it, instead opting to get them home and talking to Chris about it later. "Yeah, it's around back," he said, walking to Chris, "let's go home."

Hope errone had a good weekend and if you're into it a successful day of silence on Friday

*peace out* (I used asterisks coz they kinda give the look of flower power, reach for 'em y'all)


	2. Bitchy Behavior

_**Quick Way to Get through My Insanity**_: Read the bold paragraph, skip the ones w/ "**SKIP**" b4 'em.

**(SKIP)** IMPORTANT for people who are light readers: The first few (+) paragraphs in this chapter are explanatory and description heavy, I can't help it, it's the way I write: totally stream-of-consciousness. However, if you're only looking for action scenes (not as in action movies), then I suggest you scroll down a bit, past the A/N's and first chunk of paragraphs. You will miss some foreshadowing that made its way in there, but no harm no foul. If you get confused at any point, you can always go back and read the A/N's.

**I know that there's a crud load of A/N's below this, each little paragraph added at a different time and in a random order whenever I got a relevant idea, this one being the last of them, but I think this is the most important one. For some reason, as I've been writing this chapter, the style I usually try to use with fanfics has been replaced with how I would write longer, more formal stories. It's obviously the type of writing style I'm more comfortable with, based on both the ease of this chapter's composition and its length, and I've decided that the odds of me sticking with this story and eventually completing it will be greater if I continue with this trend. And so, unlike my other stories created from bit parts, this fic will be longer, the previous Ch. counting as a prelude of sorts, and will read more like a novella. Sorry if that doesn't rock your socks.**

**(SKIP)** A/N: Okeydokey, so first things first =): I gave this story its title based on what Microsoft Word had me save it as. You know how they just call it whatever the first couple of words in your doc are unless you give it a specific title? Well, sometimes I don't really give a crud and that's what happened. The first sentence of the last chapter was "are you a mother-fucking idiot", I believe, and so I just took out the profanity part. HOWEVER. Funny story =). Because it limits the number of letters in a title, I didn't notice until now that this story is called "Are you a moth?" on my computer. Lol, I just pictured the bug. Hahaha, well, if you were me you'd totally find that funny.

**(SKIP)** POLL: Are you a moth? Yes or no.

**(SKIP)** A/N (cont.): She doesn't have a huge part yet, but Piper's third kid, Prudence Melinda, is gonna be Chris and Wyatt's older sister instead of their younger one in my story just because it makes Chris the youngest, which is a trait that I like about him =). Plus, what I have to do to make Piper and Leo having an older child make sense makes for a fun side-story (which will still be Chris-centric). I think that's it =D.

**(SKIP)** Oh, that and April 20th rocked, Manhattan Beach rocks and the new Six Flags Ride (Magic Mountain) will rock. (See how I got my past, present AND future tenses covered… yup.)

Chapter 2

For the past six months, Chris and Wyatt had been sharing a duplex in Manhattan Beach in LA. Chris had followed Wyatt down the coast after high school, attending UCLA while Wyatt was in his third year at UC Santa Barbara. Being that Chris spent his first two years living on campus and the fact that the distance between the two schools was a little much to be sharing an apartment while Wyatt was still attending, they held off until Wyatt was graduated and Chris was a junior before moving in together.

It's not that it's terribly strange for two brothers to be living together in adulthood, I mean, just look at _Two and Half Men_, but the reasons for Chris and Wyatt doing it were a little more unusual. Just like the sisters had held strong that living together strengthened their magical bond and kept them safer, Chris and Wyatt had held the same idea. Wyatt may have been the golden child, but even he had to admit that he was stronger with his family around. He, Chris and their sister Mel had a bond similar to the Power of Three and, while Mel wasn't around as much, even just two of them together magnified their power. So Wyatt had stayed in LA, even after college. He had to protect his little brother, didn't he? And, besides, who can turn down a duplex in Manhattan Beach?

Job-wise, it was pretty tough finding a good office one with a History degree, but Wyatt was actually surprisingly happy when he scored a gig as a bartender. Despite the lure of wealth from becoming a doctor or a lawyer, bartending had always been a secret dream job for him and he definitely didn't mind spending a year or two doing it before figuring out what he was going to do with the rest of his life. His day-job most days was in a bar in Santa Monica facing a giant car wash, where he got a surprising amount of day drinkers, especially during the warmer months. Not that there were really any cold months in Santa Monica, but people who grew up in the sun tended to wear down jackets the second it got below sixty five (a little above 18 in Celsius). Aside from the weather neurosis, it also seemed as though the sunshine made everyone less uptight and Wyatt was really starting to dig their way of life. People from other areas don't usually classify people from LA as calm, but once you get down to the beach cities, Huntington to Venice, everyone is just so cool. It's like, in retrospect, with the amount of traffic they have to deal with, I really don't think they'd survive otherwise. The reason for the misjudgment of character regarding Los Angeles from people who visit is that, plainly, it isn't a tourist town. Sure, there's Disneyland (which isn't even in LA County) and Hollywood Boulevard, and maybe even the Dodgers, but none of those things would give you the correct feel. To experience LA, you would have to experience different areas and spend an extended amount of time doing it: way more to feel than what can be felt in the span of a single vacation.

Wyatt began to understand this more after one month at work than he did throughout his whole time at UCSB. While college in a new place can broaden one's horizons, universities are their own inbred societies and cultures and, oftentimes, out of area students are never really exposed to the lives of the locals. Now, twenty-three and alive, Wyatt _was_ exposed and, boy, was he happy to absorb. He'd get his Pete's, Starbucks or Coffee Bean in the mornings, eat tons of frozen yogurt and legitimate Mexican food, and his beach bum buddies from work were having him pick up surfing faster than Keanu Reeves in _Point Break_. He knew who the regulars at the bar were, he'd memorized their orders and he was generally liked by the bulk of the people coming through. He was so in the game that he almost laughed when he got offered a second job at a nightclub in LA (downtown).

Wyatt had gotten pretty good at mixing drinks and making a show out of it and, a little over a month in, an impressed customer had approached him, telling him that he had just the "persona" she was looking for. The woman, stylish and pretty, who wore those big buggy-eyed sunglasses and who had an almost forced bubbly aspect to her personality, was, in Wyatt's opinion, a great example of the stereotypical California girl. Albeit she was a little older than Katy Perry, with a little more "flamboyant gay guy" in her and a working-woman version of the cliché, Wyatt was sure that association with her would lead to an introduction to a completely different part of LA culture.

Wyatt didn't really _need_ the money a second job offered, especially considering that half of the duplex was paid for by his parents. Then again, he did have club experience from helping his mom out at P3 and, he had to admit, he kind of wanted to see what the nightlife was like downtown. The woman had given him a couple of days to think it over, but his newly twenty-one year old baby brother's incessant nagging to take the nifty sounding job was what made his mind up for him. However, taking from Kevin Kline's wise character in _Grand Canyon_ and getting back to the driving in Los Angeles theme, "This is difficult stuff. Making a left turn in LA is one of the harder things you'll learn in life." Wyatt didn't know it at the time he said yes to the woman, also the owner of the club, but taking that job was going to turn into one hell of a left turn.

As for Chris, he was an English and Mathematics double-major with a minor in Political Science and, damn, was that a work load. On top of that, it was also really weird. I mean, what the hell kind of job was he thinking of getting that would incorporate Calculus, the workings of the law and Shakespearean sonnets? He told his parents that he wanted to keep his options open, but Wyatt was convinced that his indecisiveness would be the end of him. Maybe it was true. While he had his moments of spontaneity, Chris froze up any time he was asked what type of ice cream he wanted. Sometimes, when he was too afraid of doing the wrong thing, he would just do nothing.

Like the night in the alley. Chris was afraid of exposing magic, but he was also afraid of those assholes that cornered him. He had been drinking and that always made whatever he was feeling triple and, in this situation, he had been feeling fear. It's not surprising, any smart person would be right to fear a creepy alleyway with creepy big men in the middle of a creepy night. Only, a Halliwell should be able to defend itself and shouldn't be able to be pushed around by mortals. At least, that's what Chris was thinking on the ride back home.

When he and Wyatt had gotten into the car, before Wyatt had put the key in the ignition, he had given Chris a long hard look. He was definitely frazzled, but now he mostly looked tired. He had told himself that he wouldn't ask Chris what happened again until they got home, or even until the morning, but he still had to make sure he was okay.

"What?" Chris had shot at him.

Glancing at Chris a moment longer, Wyatt had nodded his head and then faced the wheel to start the car. Before he had pulled out the parking lot, though, he looked at Chris again and said, "You know, if you're tired you can just orb home and hit the sack. I'm cool taking the car back myself." His tone wasn't angry or aggressive, it was sweet and, as much as Wyatt didn't like the idea of Chris home by himself while he was upset, if his brother really needed to be home at that moment, he wouldn't be opposed to it.

However, all Chris wanted to do was turn on the radio and zone out. In a voice a little softer than his previous statement, he told Wyatt, "Nah, I'm fine… Can we please just get going?"

"Sure," Wyatt said, even softer than Chris, and pulled out of the lot. He let Chris put on a CD and couldn't help but be glad that he had decided to stay in the car. His little brother had been one of those babies that loved motion and passed out every time they were put into a moving vehicle. Growing up, Chris had loved rides and rollercoasters, even though they had made Wyatt queasy. He was one of those people who could get rocked to sleep at any age and, right then, he was just wanting to delve into the peacefulness of driving.

After a couple of minutes, they stopped at a red light and Wyatt looked over at Chris. His eyes were closed and he was leaning into the crook of the seat and the passenger side door. If he wasn't asleep, he was in his own little world. That state of semi-consciousness where your eyes get heavy and your body relaxed, but, if you were paying attention, you'd be able to hear what people around you were saying. Since nobody was saying anything, Chris was probably just sinking into the music, perhaps falling asleep. The light turned from red to green and Wyatt kept driving.

Since it was late and there wasn't any real traffic, they made it home in just under a half an hour. Carefully pulling into one of the tiny garages that accompanied these beachside duplexes, Wyatt almost hissed at the loud sound the closing garage door made. It was super rusty and made a horrible screeching noise every time it moved. The old lady that lived next door would stick her arm out of her window and threaten him with a broom whenever it woke her up. Simply put, it needed to get fixed.

Turning the engine off but keeping on the music, Wyatt tried to see if Chris was sleeping. He didn't shift at all from his earlier position and hadn't said a word the whole ride, so Wyatt was guessing yes. He turned the car off completely, music and all, and waited to see if that would gain a reaction. It didn't. He opened his door, got out, shut his door and then walked around the Chris'. Squatting down and looking through the window, Wyatt could see that he was still asleep and leaning heavily against the door. If he opened it, he would succeed in getting a conscious brother, but he'd probably have to go through the effort of catching him first. Sighing, Wyatt pulled on the handle.

As expected, the moment the door opened, Chris started to tip over and out of the car and, as he knew he'd have to, Wyatt caught his fall. "Come on, Chris," he said to his subtly groaning brother as he sat him back in his seat. He was going to continue softly cooing Chris out of his sleep when he realized that he wasn't even wearing a seatbelt. As neurotic as Chris was, Wyatt was a stickler for safety. It's what made him a trustworthy bartender and, at this moment, it's what made him roughly shake his brother and shout, "Damn it, Chris!"

Noticing right away that it wasn't the best thing to have done, Wyatt felt an immediate pang of guilt at the look Chris gave him when his eyes opened. Even though they must have been sleepy, Chris still managed to have wide eyes and the look on his face was a combination of confusion and fear. His head wasn't clear yet and all he could register was that somebody was leaning over him and gripping his arms. Gripping his arms like _Jase_ had done. The second he started struggling, Wyatt pulled him into a hug. Trying to keep his little brother in a tight embrace, he was surprised when Chris didn't calm down after he apologized and said that it was just him, "It's okay, Chris, it's me, Wyatt."

Instead, at the realization that he had just woken up really awkwardly and had freaked the fuck out in front of Wyatt, hugging him was the last thing that he wanted to do. Barely a minute after the fact and he was already dying of embarrassment and shame. He didn't want Wyatt to feel sorry for him and, for that matter, he didn't want Wyatt to feel like he had to protect him all of the time. Of course, he understood that there were situations where he needed to count on him to have his back, predominantly demonic situations, but this wasn't one of them. Maybe back in the alley, but not now. Right now, what Chris wanted most was to feel strong and he couldn't do that with Wyatt treating him like a hurt little kid. So, squirming against strong arms, he succeeded in getting away from his brother by practically shoving himself out of the car and landing with a hard thud as his right side hit pavement.

"Chris!" Wyatt exclaimed, trying to get to his brother again.

In response, Chris clumsily scampered away, "Just stop it, Wy! Okay! Just stop it."

Freezing his movements, Wyatt looked worried. Watching his brother huffing and puffing from his place on the floor, he opened his mouth to speak, but he wasn't quite sure what to say. After a few moments, Chris started slowly getting up and Wyatt was smart enough to let him be. "I'm sorry Chris," he said, "I didn't mean to scare you." His voice was a mix between guilt-ridden and skeptical.

Brushing off his pants as he finished standing, Chris yelled back, "You didn't scare me, alright! I just had a fucked up dream and you shaking me and trying to suffocate me didn't help!"

"Alright, I'm sorry."

Watching his brother's face, Chris didn't see pity. If anything, Wyatt, himself, looked pitiful. _Probably my fault,_ Chris thought. Trying his best to calm down and put things into perspective, he ended up apologizing to Wyatt, "No, it's fine, Wy. I'm sorry, I just… I haven't slept in god knows how long and I probably drank more than I should have tonight on an empty stomach. I just had a bad trip or something. I'm gonna head inside and go to bed." Walking passed Wyatt, Chris gave him a small smile and walked through the door leading to their apartment.

Just like earlier in the night, Wyatt didn't want to question him, at least until the next day, and didn't immediately follow. He felt bad about screaming at him, but mostly he was just worried. Chris had always been a little bitchy when he was stressed, but this was intense. This attitude didn't just pop out of nowhere. Wyatt knew something must have happened tonight to shake him up. They had been together in the club and Chris had seemed fine, happy even, and so the obvious answer was that something had happened when he left him alone in the alley. Maybe he got a bad phone call… But would a phone call really upset him this much and make him not want to tell Wyatt about it? It would have had to have been one hell of a conversation… Wait. _Demons, _Wyatt thought, snapping his finger in realization and shaking his head as if to say, "I should have known."

Chris must have been attacked and not able to kill the thing. Or things. God, it made so much sense. Chris' powers had been acting up recently and, even though he hated to admit it to Wyatt, there was no hiding the fact that when he tried to TK (using telekinesis) anything to him it ended up smacking him in the face. He'd laugh it off, but Wyatt knew there was more to the problem…

Snapped out of his reverie by the beep of a cell phone, Wyatt looked to where the sound came from. He could see Chris' cell phone sitting on the front seat through the still open passenger side door. _I really shouldn't… _Confident that Chris wasn't coming back to garage after glancing at the door to the apartment, he decided to ignore his cautionary thought and grabbed the phone. Opening it, he read a text message from an unnamed number:

_Nice meeting you tonight, Buddy. Next time we'll make it more than just a quickie in an alley :O _

The message was slightly ambiguous, but Wyatt didn't miss the implications that this person was trying to get across. Did Chris seriously meet somebody in the span of ten minutes and screw them? No way, Chris wouldn't do that and, again, the ten minutes thing was kind of a crucial element to the equation. Could he have met somebody in the club who just talked about an alley by pure coincidence? Wyatt _had_ gone to the bathroom a couple of times… Or then again, it could still be a demon. I mean, they've kept up with the times, too. Wyatt wouldn't be surprised if the piece of scum had resorted to intimidation via text messaging.

"Fuck this," Wyatt stated before shutting the car door and heading inside. Screw sparing Chris' feelings by not questioning him tonight. If Chris was in trouble, Wyatt needed to know and he wasn't about to risk a perverted demon shimmering in on his brother while they were sleeping. Getting to the top of the steps and standing in front of Chris' door, Wyatt knocked, "Chris, let me in. We need to talk… You know I don't care if you're decent or not so I'm opening this door."

He turned the handle only to find resistance. The door was locked. In this apartment, locking a door was pretty much a metaphorical action; if they wanted to bust in on each other's privacy, they could always just orb. "Unhh," the big brother groaned before disappearing in a mass of glittery blue lights and reappearing in the same fashion in Chris' bedroom. Only, Chris wasn't there. Wyatt looked around the rest of the apartment before resorting to calling him. Calling in the whitelighter sense, of course, both because it's easier that way and the fact that Wyatt had the younger's cell phone. Again, Wyatt came out empty. Chris didn't answer and, while Wyatt could sense that he was alive and not in the underworld, he couldn't sense exactly where he was.

"Chris!" he tried one more time. Nothing. He paced back and forth, trying to figure out what to do. Pulling Chris' phone out of his pocket, he stopped walking and dialed a number he knew by heart: the manor. It rang a few times before a sleepy voice answered,

"Hello?"

"Dad, it's Wyatt."

"Wyatt? It's three a.m., why are you calling?" At his son's lack of response, with the exception of heavy breathing, something clicked in Leo and he shot up in bed, "Wyatt, what's going on? Are you guys alright?"

Wyatt swallowed before answering his dad, "I- I lost Chris."

A/N: Oh god that was more painful than I made it seem in my "before story" author's note. Aye yai yai…

Ummm soo I actually didn't look at the reviews until just now, or else I totally would have just skipped all this shit and gone straight to a Jase/Wyatt confrontation. Oh well, I was planning on doing it after I do my big action and intense shiznit next chapter (I know there wasn't any of that jazz in this one, so consider this chapter the calm before the storm).

Holy shit, even without author's notes this ch was over 3000 words. No wonder my head hurts, I did this all in one go.


	3. Shorty ch wIssues

**A/N:** Hey, so this is pretty much what I wrote before finals. Sorry I haven't updated in a longzz time, but I had stuff. Like, my last week of school (aka finals week) included more school work needing to be done than I have ever even attempted, like, ever. I had three 12-18 page research papers to due on the Monday and Tuesday (all, pretty much, term papers and one with an added four page appendix), three normal length essays due the Monday and three legitimate final exams. I swear, I am never taking so many writing intensive courses or 300/400 level courses in one term ever again. By the time I was done and on vaca, I was like "screw freaking out of school writing, I'm done with that word shit". And then I kinda got obsessed with that show Reunion from like five or six years ago which led me to Blue Bloods (mutual cutie cast member) which led me to Blue Bloods fanfiction which pretty much only has one author who writes shtuff on Jamie (the character I like). It is super frustrating to be obsessed with a fandom and only have like one story to watch out for. Blue Bloods pretty much took me off my revived Charmed interest for a while. It's getting back though. Anyway! I am, at least, interested in this particular story again so I figured I'll just post what I had done earlier as like part 1 of chapter 3 right now, finish it and post the rest and then update regularly from there. I do have a 7 to 4 job starting Monday, but it's totally intern stuff, meaning no take home, meaning whatever non-party time this summer is going toward either this, my guitar or the blessed television =)

Chapter 3, Part I

"What do you mean you lost, Chris?" Leo's reaction to his son's statement was loud enough to wake up his wife and abrasive enough to make Wyatt cringe.

Piper rolled over to look at him and could right away sense his fear, "Leo, what's going on?"

Instead of responding to her, he stayed stiff and listened intently for Wyatt's answer to his question. His son was freaked out on the other end, both at Chris' absence and his father's probable anger, so he was still trying to collect himself before saying anything else. While in the alternate future Chris may have been the neglected child, this time around he was the cherished baby. Everybody in the family was protective of everybody else, but, when it came to Wyatt's little brother, it was different. It was different, especially for his aunts and his mother and it was different, especially for Leo. Wyatt was scared of his father's anger not because his father was a violent man, but because he knew that, ever since future-Chris had died in his arms, Leo had vowed to make sure that nothing would ever happen to his baby boy. Leo Wyatt was ruthless when it came to protecting his family.

He waited for about thirty seconds without a response before he jumped the gun. "That's it." He said, "I'm coming over."

"Wait, Dad, you don't have to do that –" Wyatt started, but before he could finish, Leo orbed in next to him. "Dad," he continued to his father in person while dropping the arm that held the cell phone, "you didn't have to come here. He's not here, I've already checked."

"Like hell I didn't." Leo's hands were on his hips. "If I didn't, we wouldn't have seen you. You called because you didn't want to orb to the manor and I want to know why." As Wyatt shifted on his feet, Leo's eyes narrowed. "Do you have something to do with this?"

"What? No! I didn't go to the manor because it might not be that big of a deal and I didn't want to freak you and Mom out by orbing into your bedroom. I just called because I knew you would chew me out if I didn't!"

"Well, of course I'd be –"

"See!" Wyatt cut him off. For a moment, his worry about Chris left him and his long-held annoyance at his dad's over-caring nature toward his brother crept to the surface. "If Chris got a paper-cut and you found out that I didn't say anything, you'd tell me how disappointed you are in me and accuse me of jeopardizing his safety!"

"Are we really doing this right now, Wyatt? If you're telling me you're not involved, I believe you, but right now is really not the time for you to discuss my inadequacies as a father. You called me saying that your little brother's in danger, you should be trying to find him instead of arguing with me."

"You think _I'm_ the one arguing with _you_! Try the other way around! You're the one who accused me of being involved, I'm just reacting. And, by the way, I didn't say he was in danger, I said that I couldn't find him and this isn't even about me! This is about you coming over here and overreacting before you even know what the fuck is going on!"

"Language!" The exclamation didn't come from Leo. Both he and Wyatt stayed quiet for a moment. "Hello! Still on the phone, here!"

Wyatt looked down to the phone in his hand as realization set in and he put the mobile to his ear, "Hello?"

After Leo had literally orbed out of bed, Piper had scrambled to grab the phone her husband had dropped and had been listening to their conversation, trying to scream loudly enough for one of them to hear her. When she heard Wyatt say 'hello', she still wasn't sure how well they could hear her so she continued speaking in a loud voice, "Wyatt?"

Quickly pulling the phone away from his now-aching ear, Wyatt reluctantly looked at his father before addressing his mother, "Sorry, Mom, and I can hear you now, so you don't have to scream."

"Sorry… and that's alright Sweetie, just calm down, alright? You _and_ your father." Piper hated it when those two got into fights. Their relationship had been rocky ever since Wyatt had hit high school, mostly, at the time, because of Wyatt's teenaged hormones and rebellious streak causing him to break the house rules, but, when he got older, she'd thought it cool down a bit. It kind of did when Wyatt moved away for college, you know, because they weren't physically in the same place, but it didn't end it. Neither Wyatt nor Leo was willing to drop whatever had stirred their relationship back in Wyatt's teen days and it always caused friction. "Just take deep breaths, Pumpkin."

Wyatt was kind of confused as to Piper's soft tone. If she had heard him cuss, then she must have heard the other parts about Chris being missing, too. Why wasn't she upset? Maybe he had been extra loud toward the end and she really hadn't heard the rest. "Um, Mom?" he started, "So, Chris kind of just disappeared."

Leo took a step toward Wyatt, "Let me talk to her," he said.

"No," Wyatt covered to phone, protectively. "If you wanted to talk to her about it, you shouldn't have orbed away from her."

Leo thought about making a snide or pithy remark and orbing back, but, throughout the whole, little argument he had just been having with Wyatt, he couldn't help but feel slightly bad about his hastiness. Apart from their issues, Wyatt had always been a good son and nephew and would never do anything to hurt Chris. If anything else, he was a great brother, as well. It's just, his older sister hadn't given Leo nearly as many problems when they were teenagers and so, when he would catch Wyatt drinking or skipping out on class, he hadn't known how to handle it well. He had had a lot of problems at work at the time, those of the magical proportion, and Wyatt was just not given the benefit of the doubt. Really, he should be over it by now, but, whenever Wyatt gives any indication of opposition, his knee-jerk reaction is to play angry-father. Absorbing a burst of sympathetic rationality, he stepped back from Wyatt and tried putting on a peace-offering smile.

"You still there, Mom? Did you hear what I said?" Wyatt hoped his Mom wouldn't be too upset. For all he knew, Chris really could be in actual danger and he didn't want Piper worrying about the possibilities.

"I did, Sweetie, but, before we jump to conclusions, did either of you try checking his old room?"

"At the manor?"

"That's the one."

Wyatt shook his head no, "Do you really think he'd be there?" He looked over at Leo and could see his Dad silently asking what was going on. Both having calmed down a bit, he answered, "Mom thought we should check his old room."

Widening his eyes at the possibility of finding his son safe and sound, Leo willed himself up California's gold coast and back to San Francisco and his home in the blink of an eye. He had left Wyatt, still on the phone with Piper, back at the boys' apartment, but, three seconds after he found himself staring at Chris' childhood bed, his other son appeared right in front of it. It was dark and he hadn't gotten a good enough look before Wyatt had blocked his view, so he slowly got himself right up to the edge of the bed. Amazingly, on his stomach and with his fist curled around a bunch of sheet, lied Chris. His eyes were closed and his breathing was deep and even: a dead give-away for Chris that he was asleep.

"He was tired earlier, but I can't believe he's out, already." Wyatt whispered, "He can't have been here more than five, ten minutes."

"He must have had a long night." Soft voice coming from the doorway, Piper startled Leo and Wyatt for the second time in the past couple of minutes.

As Wyatt started to speak, Leo gave him a look and nodded toward the doorway. He was trying to not be overbearing and bossy, but he didn't want Wyatt screaming across the room and waking up Chris. Wyatt didn't seem to be mad at the gesture, however, and calmly walked over to his mother. Hugging her before taking a step back, he asked, "How'd you know he'd be here?"

**A/N:** Alright, unfortunately for you, I reread this and decided it is necessary for me to continue the boringness for at least a few more paragraphs in Ch 3 part 2 before I get to more entertaining stuff. AKA demons, violence, sex, that stuff. yah

Totally aware this doesn't get chapter of the month ha but I do have to admit it has slightly more effort put into it than many of the chapters in ma other stories… proly gonna put those on hiatus


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